Ugly Ass Coat
by BlacKat-GrenEys
Summary: Just after the clock hits midnight on Christmas Eve Sanji steps out for a smoke, with Zoro following after in his ugly ass giant coat. Day 28 of ZoSan Christmas Exchange. Also Timestamp to OPbigbang that hasn't been published yet.


They didn't count down like some of their friends in the building were probably doing. They didn't purposefully stay up to see if Santa is real like lots of little kids do. They didn't stay up to make love to each other like other couples their age tend to do on the holiday. They didn't even realize when the time was just past midnight making it no longer Christmas Eve, but Christmas day itself.

They had spent the day lazing around doing nothing. Making cookies here, sparing there, and a romp or two in the sheets, but nothing extravagant. So when Sanji felt the itchings for a cigarette between his lips he quickly threw on one of his light shirts, a pair of sweatpants, one of Zoro's pull over hoodies, and grabbed his pack and lighter off the kitchen counter before stepping out into the chilly air on the balcony of their apartment.

They didn't have the most extravagant place, but it was theirs and they had no complaints. After everything that happened two years ago they had to move, had to make a change so their past wouldn't haunt them around every corner and in every floorboard. They even got all new furniture and changed the side of town they lived on just to get away from all the memories. It was one of the best decisions they ever made together, besides Zoro saving Sanji's life and them meeting of course.

Well... that's a different story.

Sanji's mind circles around that thought, the story he had made peace with but would never forget. He taps his pack on his hand before removing one of the cigarettes from inside and placing it in his mouth.

It's still a small issue with Zoro and himself, it always will be. Zoro accepted Sanji after it all, but there are still moments when Zoro will look at him like he remembers when Sanji would disappear for days.

He flicks his lighter to life before bringing it up to the tip of the stick between his lips. The smoke fills his lungs as he inhales deeply, savoring the burn it causes in his throat and lungs. While the phantom itch it caused begins to disappear back into the farthest corner of his mind.

Cigarettes were the only fix that Zoro let him keep after the hospital, but he relegated it to only two or three a day, much to Chopper's pleasure of course.

The two of them are gonna be the death of him. Their constant nagging and check ups have been on Sanji's nerves since he got out of the hospital. But he can't blame them, not really. They have every right to feel the way they do after all the shit he put them through. So Sanji tries to ignore their coddling, to an extent. Some things he does put his foot down on though, literally.

Sanji takes another drag when he hears the balcony door open behind him letting Zoro step out beside him in his absurdly large coat that Luffy gave him last Christmas. It's an ugly thing, dark and light brown horizontal stripes, making it look wider than it and Zoro are, big furry cuffs on the sleeves and neckline that practically consume Zoro. Sanji never understood why Zoro didn't burn the shitty thing as soon as he was given it, but Sanji's learned over the ears that Zoro is sentimental like that. Hell, he still has Sanji's ID bracelet from the hospital two years ago sitting inside his bedside drawer. Sanji knows why he kept that, but the coat is still a slight mystery to him.

Zoro steps up beside him at the railing, not saying anything, not mentioning that this is Sanji's fifth cigarette of the day, which reveals that it had been one of those bad days that they try not to think about too much but always ended up doing.

They stand there in silence watching the street below them. There aren't a lot of cars out at this time, with it being very early Christmas morning and what not, but they do see the occasional one go by as Sanji slowly finishes his cigarette and stubs it out in the pot on the floor.

When Sanji's done they still don't look at each other. Both comfortable in the silence that they have, till Sanji feels another itch. Not a cigarette itch, not... the other kind of itch Sanji used to get, but the nose kind. The kind that signals an epic, terrible, ridiculous sneeze is about to erupt from his body and he has no way of stopping it. And he doesn't. It soars out of him causing a full body shudder to wreak through him.

Zoro doesn't move, hell he doesn't even jump from it. He just looks at Sanji shivering slightly from the sneezes after effects and calming asks, "You cold?"

Before Sanji can rally himself to answer that he is fine, Zoro steps away from the rail and up behind Sanji. He feels Zoro open his ugly ass coat and all of a sudden Sanji is wrapped up snuggly inside the damn thing with the marimo.

Maybe this is way Zoro kept it. It could safely hold the both of them within its confines without stretching anything. Hell, Sanji can even feel the marimo's smugness dripping off of him while he smiles into Sanji's neck placing a light kiss just below his hairline.

They stand there in silence again, not watching the clock, not thinking about the day or what it is meant to signify, watching the few cars go by. Sanji can't help but be embarrassed by what Zoro has done with his fugly coat, but Sanji wouldn't change it for the world.


End file.
